The Oregon Trail: Now for iPhone

WARNING: This is not a screen grab from the iPhone game!
I can't even begin to guess how many hours...days even...I spent playing Oregon Trail in elementary school. The best part was "rainy day recess" when I could convince a substitute teacher to let me go to the computer lab instead of playing with the other kids (FORESHADOWING!)

Anyway, turns out there are tons of other Oregon Trail fanatics out there. Well, at least enough to justify the creation of an Oregon Trail game for iPhone.

I was a little disappointed to find out that it's not the original game. Someone dolled it up with better graphics and typical video game crap like a health status bar. Oh well, it was only six bucks and it will be worth it when someone dies of dysentery.

Read the Gizmodo review (with screenshots).

My Friend's iPhone Game: Retrobots

Retrobots

A friend of mine made an iPhone app. It's been several months in the making and debuted on the app store over the weekend.

Find retrobots by searching for "retrobots" (all one word).
Click on the icon to read about the app / download for $2.99

If I'm remembering right - it's based on an old Apple Macintosh game.

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100 Top Indie Albums of All Time

Here are the 100 Top Indie Rock Albums of All Time... as proposed by Amazon.com's music editors.

Am I a dumbass because I've never heard of #5?

I was surprised by how many new albums are on here. I'd like to see a pie chart breaking down the 80's, 90's and 00's. It's got to be at least 50% from the last five to seven years.

Rankings and the definition of "indie" aside,

They totally got it right with:
Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Postal Service - Give Up
Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
Broken Social Scene - You Forget It In People
Mirah - Advisory Committee
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
Notwist - Neon Golden
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Rachel's - The Sea and Bells
(I was happily surprised to see this made the list)
The New Pornographers' Mass Romantic
(at first I thought this was the wrong choice, but the more I think about it, this is the right pick)

I guess it depends on what the criteria is for "top album" but there are some albums on there I'd disagree with:


Right artist, wrong album:
Belle and Sebastian's - If You're Feeling Sinister
(Tigermilk, their first album was really the breakthrough and believe me I'm trying to be sensitive to first-album bias)
Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
(Blacklisted is better from beginning to end)
The National - Alligator
(yeah, Boxer was more popular, but that's because it's a more solid album)
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
(I can see the argument for Surfer Rosa, but I would have picked Doolittle)

Where the heck is...
Throwing Muses?
Ani DiFranco?
The Mountain Goats?
Metric?
... shoot, I know there are a ton I'm spacing on.

Read the complete list at Amazon.com's Chordstrike blog.

Is Obama a Socialist?

A leader of the US Socialist party says, "no," and makes some great points.

Read the complete article from the Washington Post.

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Youtube mash-ups by Kuitiman

Youtube mash-ups by Kuitiman

To me, youtube is a great place to waste time and / or find horrible videos you'll never un-see. This guy, Kuitiman looks at youtube a little differently. He sees it as a massive collection of samples.

He created an audio/video mash-up of different youtube videos. It's kinda like what DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist do - but with youtube. Check it out:





Ready for another one?





Check out the complete album at thru-you.com.